Improvement in apparatus for operating railway-switches



atea sala time afm,

JAMES ALOORN, OF OHARLESTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO GEORGE R. KELSO, OF SAME PLAGE.Y

Letters Patent No. 113,002, dated March 28, 1871.

The Schedule referred to In these Lettera Patent and making part of the same.

To all persons to whom these 'presents may come Be it known that I, JAMES ALoonN, of Charlestown, in the county of Middlesex and State of .Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Operating Railway-Switches; and do hereby declare the same to be fully described in the following specification and represented in the accompanying drawing, of which- Figure-l denotes a side elevation of a railway/,truckframe and its dasher having my invention applied thereto.

- Figure 2 is a front elevation thereof.

My invention has reference to a simple and effective means oi' operating the switch-rail of turnouts in horse railway-tracks, the object being to dispense with the extraordinary manual power required to adjust the switch and operate the same directly from the car.

In the said drawing- A denotes the common truck-frame of a railway-4 carriage, mounted upon four wheels, O O O O, and provided with a dasher, B, in the ordinary manner.

To the front part of the frame A a segmental plate, O, is aidxed, by means of adjustable-screws, a a.

To this plate the actuating-lever or hand-bar D is pivoted by means of a anged stud, E, the said lever having a longitudinal slot, b, made therein, and being otherwise so formed and appliedas to be capable not only of moving upward and downward, but of being vibrated or turned upon the said stud, as to fulcrum either to the right or left, as circumstances may require.

Within the forked lower end of this lever a frictionwheel, F, is disposed, as seen in the drawing, or, if preferable, the latter wheel may be -dispensed with vand the said lower end be formed wedge-shaped.

H is a check or guard, applied to the dasher to prevent too great lateral vibration of the lever.

I is a spring, which is coiled spirally around 'a rod, K, attached to an arm, L, a'ixed to the rear part of the lever, and extending down and through a hole made vertically through the frame A, theA object of such spring being to retract the lever, after having been forced downward, and maintain it in its normal position when not in use.

I do not limit my invention to arranging the actuating-lever in front of the dasher, as it may bedisposed in rear thereof for this purpose.

Nor dol restrict myself to the use of a segmental adjusting-plate, as the level' nl aybe applied, by means of a flanged or headed fulcrum-pin, directly to the dasher or to the front of the car; but the segmental plate enables the lever to be readily adjusted with respect-to the medial line of the adjacent railway-A wheel, as well as to be readily applied to or removed from the carriage whenever desirable.

Although I have shown the device as applied 4to only one end of the car, each car should be provided with one at each of its ends, the handles thereof being so disposed as to be readily grasped and operated by the driver.

My invention so made and applied is adapted to both opening and closing the switch-rail of a turnout, as may be desirable, and with equal facility the actuating-lever or its'wheel. being so hung that whenvat rest its medial lines, and that of the wheels of the carriage upon the same side, are inthe same vertical plane, so that, in operating the switch, the driver of the car has only to notice, in approaching a turnout, whether the switch-rail is open or closed, then move the hand-lever to the right or left in accordance therewith, at the same time pressing it downward so that its lower end shall impingc against the requisite side of the switch, when, by a slight lateral vibration -of the lever in the proper direction, the switch will be properly adjusted.

I do not claim, broadly, operating the switch of a railway turnout by means of devices aiixed to the car, as I am aware that several attempts to this end have been made; but such have been their complication and liability to get out of order as to be of no practical value, and have been discarded.

Neither do I claim the device, nor any feature4 thereof, or any part thereof, as shown and described in Letters Patent No. 91,663, and granted to Daniel- Pike, June 22, 1869, as my invention diiers therefrom both in construction and inode of operation.

I'elaimy 1. As a means of operating the switch-rail of a turnout in railway-tracks, the lever D, formed and pivoted to the car or segmental plate O in manner as described, and so as to-be capable of being moved vertically and vibrated laterally, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination with the same, the retracting mechanism or rod K and spring I, and the check or guard H, as and for the purposes set forth.

JAMES ALCORN.

Witnesses F. P. HALE, F. O. HALE. 

